I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pest control devices, and more particularly to pest control devices which incorporate a replaceable glueboard to immobilize pests.
II. Related Art
Historically, a variety of pest control devices have been employed to trap rodents, insects and other pests. Such pest control devices have typically employed some attraction mechanism for luring pests to the pest control device. Such attraction mechanisms have included baits such as food, pheromones or other odorous materials found attractive by the pest. Such mechanisms have also included light sources. Ultraviolet lamps have proven to be a useful and effective lure when trapping flying insects. Pest control devices have likewise historically included an immobilization mechanism preventing the pest from exiting the pest control device. One type of immobilization mechanism commonly used is substrate such as a board, paper or other medium having a surface coated with an adhesive. Pests attracted to the pest control device or incidentally coming into contact with the adhesive become trapped by adhesion.
One type of adhesively-coated substrate is commonly referred to as a “glueboard”. As the name suggests, a glueboard is a disposable board made of stiff paper, cardboard, corrugated plastic or other suitable material with an adhesive layer on one of the surfaces. For packaging and shipping purposes, the adhesive layer is covered by a release paper. The release paper is, of course, removed prior to use to expose the adhesive layer so pests can come into contact with the adhesive layer and become entrapped. Such disposable glueboards are routinely replaced to ensure the continued efficacy of the pest control device and to dispose of the pests immobilized by the glueboard.
While the adhesives employed when manufacturing glueboards have proved to be highly effective for trapping insects and other small animals, the nature of the adhesive is such that insertion and removal of the glueboard from the pest control device can be problematic. If the adhesive surface of the glueboard accidently comes into contact with other surfaces of the pest control device, the adhesive will cause the glueboard to stick to those surfaces. Likewise, if the skin or clothing of a person installing or removing glueboard comes into contact with the adhesive surface, the glueboard will stick to the person or the person's clothing.
Efforts have been made in the past to address such concerns. By way of example, various cartridges have been developed to enclose a substrate having a surface coated with an adhesive. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,443 granted to Lambert et al on Mar. 29, 2005 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,211 to Regan et al granted Jul. 29, 1997. While such cartridges do prevent the adhesive surface from coming into contact with the outer surface of the light sources and other surfaces of the trap and are also useful in diminishing the risk an installer or the installer's clothing will come into contact with the adhesive surfaces, such cartridges tend to be relatively expensive and complicated to assemble. Likewise, they often incorporate bracing or grids reducing the size of the area of the adhesive surface which is exposed and thus capable of trapping pests.
Prior to the invention disclosed and claimed herein there existed a real need for an inexpensive solution to reduce the risk that the adhesive surface of a glueboard will come into contact with the other surfaces of the insect trap or the skin or clothing of a person installing or removing a glueboard.